Switzer Article - - MUST READ for all Sooner fans!

[BudaSooner]

Ya might want to have a box of tissues handy, too... (be warned - - it's a LONG read!)

https://www.espn.com/college-football/s ... ing-norman

[SoonerinLA]

I read every article about the King that I can find. It's odd how many of them have information about him I have never heard. This article had a lot of stuff I didn't know about.

Living in Los Angeles, I've seen a large number of famous people. I look but leave them alone. One evening a number of years ago I ran into Brian Bosworth who was very cordial as we spoke for a few minutes. He told me to stick around as someone else I would recognize would be coming in. Sure enough Coach Switzer walks in. I say hello and we chat at the bar for a good hour or more. He was unbelievably friendly and down to earth. And of course very entertaining. I sheepishly asked him for a photo and he was glad to do it. I posted this story here awhile back when it happened.

When people ask me who the most famous star I've met, I always tell them Barry Switzer. A distant second is Charlize Theron.

[OU Chinaman]

...nice post SinLA. Good fun read with a touch of melancholy.
I was a freshman @ OU when he took over for Fairbanks in Spring on '73.
From that 1st season until his forced resignation Switzer restored the winning tradition & provided SOONER fans with a plethora of great teams, players, and cherished memories.

Saddened me to hear him allude to his own end of days.
Warmed me to hear of his meeting a daughter he didn't know he had, and embracing her with his time and attention.
Encouraged me to hear him discredit the NCAA.
Cheered me to hear of his description of "taking care of HIS players". Most who were less than fortunate.
Felt a kinship hearing him use the coarse language OKLAHOMANS know & utilize.
Made me proud to see that eternal "Jesse James Syndrome" still unmistakable in his persona. That outlaw gunfighter mentality we all knew and loved him for. So did his players. THAT"S been the SOONER attitude ever since!

IT WILL BE A SAD INCONSOLABLE DAY WHEN THE KING LEAVES US!

[Echo]

Thank you so much for sharing that with us, it was a great to find out things we never knew about him. He is one of a kind. I hate to think of the day he leaves us.

[JackStraw]

Met him when I was 11 years old pre-game in the coffee shop of the Lincoln Holiday Inn in 1974 (was sitting with an 'oilie', and he dropped by to say hello). And saw him at some 'grip and grin' events in Norman and Wichita in the Seventies and Eighties. The undisputed King. Sorta seems like Stoops is following the same path, though he's not quite as folksy.

[soonerTroll2]

Met him when I was 11 years old pre-game in the coffee shop of the Lincoln Holiday Inn in 1974 (was sitting with an 'oilie', and he dropped by to say hello). And saw him at some 'grip and grin' events in Norman and Wichita in the Seventies and Eighties. The undisputed King. Sorta seems like Stoops is following the same path, though he's not quite as folksy.

I'd say the difference between Coach Switzer & Coach Stoops is likely the differences between growing up in Crossett Arkansas and Youngstown Ohio.

[saturdaysarebetter]

Definitely recommend reading Bootlegger's Boy. Interesting thing about Paterno's quote about Switzer and Sherrill. Paterno wrote the forward for the book Bootlegger's Boy and Sherrill talked about how he had dinner at the Paterno's house and was sitting on the couch holding their sleeping infant grandchild. Nice to see coaching foes befriend one another.

Some people rank Tom Osborne up there in coaching history. The truth is Switzer owned Osborne.

[BudaSooner]

I had the privilege of meeting The King a couple of times. My nephew was part of the production of Coach's Cabana and he once asked me and my wife if we wanted to come to one of their productions? I said, sure. Got instructions to Barry's house (the production was staged on his patio). We went in, found my nephew Brent and he took us up and introduced us to Barry, Thomas Lott and Mark Rogers. Once before a game (don't remember which one) back in the 2000s I was walking through the crowd and walked up to a food stand outside of the stadium. As I got in line, I looked over and Barry was walking up to the same place. I hollered, "Hey, Barry!" and he said "Hi Terry"! right back... still remembered my name several years later. The man has a great memory.

[waddy's ghost]

Still waitomg for confirmation that I am a long lost lovechild of Barry's . I am starting to think after forty plus years of waiting and hoping that my father is INDEED my father and not The King .